The term Hell's Kitchen was first used in America in the 1800s to refer to a particular area in Manhattan (west of 8th Avenue to the Hudson River and north and south from 34th Street to 59th street to be exact) that, by the 1850s, became mostly populated by Irish immigrants, with a small mixture of Jewish, Italian and German immigrants sprinkled amongst them, who had come to America to escape the Great Potato Famine. As is the case with most origin stories, the true meaning of the term can only be deciphered by digging through a sea of both mythos and fact. The truth is that no one knows the exact reason why the term Hell's Kitchen was used to describe the area, but we can certainly take some educated guesses. A possible explanation was the downright barbaric working conditions that came along with working on the various tanneries, railroads and docks in the area. To give you an idea of what it was like working in or living near a tannery in 1800s America, this excerpt from "Hemlock and Hide: The Tanbark Industry in Old New York" by Hugh O. Canham sums it up pretty well, "Life in a tannery town was tough. The work was hard manual labor. Living next to a tannery meant the constant stench of curing leather and stagnant pools of waste material. Streams became heavily polluted as tanning liquors, lime solutions, flesh, and hair were discharged directly into them..." Some of the workers worked twelve hour days with only Sundays off, some worked only part time, while others only worked seasonally, camping out on the tannery property during pealing season. Accidents and deaths while building the railroads were common place. It was not uncommon to see longshoremen work all day to transport goods in and out of the country. The work was no cake walk so there was plenty of opportunity for crime to start developing in the area, which offered more money for less work. A few of the major organized crime units in the area were The Hell's Kitchen Gang, The Gopher Gang and The Parlor Mob. They offered "protection" to local businesses by forcing those businesses to pay them off...or else. They also ran illegal gambling operations. The famous reference to sleep with the fishes applies here, as many of the people who challenged the gangs ended up in the Hudson River for a permanent vacation. The gangs also fought with each other, attempting to gain hegemony over incoming goods from distant lands (the early days of the American black market, which still thrives to this day), as well as the labor unions. During prohibition, these crimes intensified as the mob bosses warred over who had control of the illegal alcohol market. Mob bosses profited so much that they even tried their hand in the entertainment industry, investing in the Cotton Club. During the Great Depression, the mob took further control by offering jobs to the populous after shaking down various businesses. During WWII, the mobs robbed boats of armaments being sent over to Europe. Crime spread rapidly. Fear gripped America. The established order, what little there was to begin with, was set aflame. You may not realize it, but you are now living in such a time. Jobs are scarce. Tyrants are threatening nuclear war. Crime is rampant. Moralists are calling for bans on all kinds of drugs and normal behaviors like sexual experimentation, which create even more opportunities for the black market to thrive, and thrive it will, as long as you let yourself be lead astray by the descendants of these mad men you call leaders. If you make a deal with the devil, if you sell yourself out to Russian oligarchs and American monopoly men, you have to be able to stand the heat when you get burned, or you have to get out of Hell's Kitchen. You can suffer for awhile and have your integrity when you come out on top or you can climb on top of people and bully your way to the bottom, perhaps of the Hudson River if you're not too careful. Now, let's get cooking. Some like it hot.